Comedian Tracy Morgan in hot water over homophobic rant

Nashville
-
Comedian Tracy Morgan is in the news for saying he would "pull out a knife and stab" his son if he were gay during a live show in Nashville.

TMZ is reporting that Tracy Morgan went off on a gay rant at Ryman Auditorium on June 3. The rant included saying homosexuals shouldn't be "whining about something as insignificant as bullying."

After the performance Ryman Auditorium issued a statement:

"The Ryman Auditorium regrets that people were offended by statements made by Tracy Morgan during his June 3 appearance. The Ryman does not control the content presented by people appearing on its stage, nor does it endorse any of the views of, or statements made by, such persons."

Morgan has let his feelings be known in past performances. In 2009 he said that being gay was a choice. He appears to have known that his rant would be pushing the edge reports iVillage:

"I don't "f***ing care if I piss off some gays, because if they can take a f***ing d**k up their ass... they can take a f***ing joke."

Since that comment Inside TV reports Morgan released an apology statement:

“I want to apologize to my fans and the gay & lesbian community for my choice of words at my recent stand-up act in Nashville. I’m not a hateful person and don’t condone any kind of violence against others,” Morgan said in a statement. “While I am an equal opportunity jokester, and my friends know what is in my heart, even in a comedy club this clearly went too far and was not funny in any context.”

One person in the audience went to social media site Facebook after the performance to protest. Kevin Rogers formed the page, WHY I NO LONGER "LIKE" Tracy Morgan. Rogers, a gay man, wrote:

"The sad thing is that none of this rant was a joke. His entire demeanor changed during that portion of the night. He was truly filled with some hate towards us. As far as I could see 10 to 15 people walked out. I had to fight myself to stay seated, but I knew if I got up... he won. He wanted to piss people off and get a rise. I didn't let him win by chasing me off, he surely didn't get any applause or laughter from me after that point - mainly because he was no longer funny to me. I wasn't holding back, it just wasn't funny. I won't even get started on his rant about how women should be home cooking him a fucking meal and not becoming CEOs or him talking about fucking the moms of retards. "